GameBulbGame development in a nutshell

When it comes to indie developers , it is either you work solo or with a team. According to studies more and more people are joining the indie world and many indie games are flourishing. Either ways, both has advantages and disadvantages , so if you are a solo developer who wants to join a team or vice versa, this article lists the pros and cons of being a solo indie developer

The Pros

Full Control Over Project

Since you are working solo and alone , you have full control over your project, which means you can add and modify and remove whatever you want from the game at your free will, which is a great advantages since you will make a game that represents you and your creativity and logic.

Infinite Time

Again since your working solo and indie , there is no Deadline for publishers and no team. Hence you can start and continue development on your project at any time and you can get plenty of time to make your game.

All Credits

If you made a game and it was a huge hit, who else going to get the credits? No one except you which will make you a popular developer unless you are a one hit wonder or you used a lot of assets and references .

Fast Development

If you are working on a small to medium sized game you will be able to finish it faster because you will not wait for other teammate to finish their work and that's why you can do all the work and added it to your game and you will finish at faster rate if you gave your game a lot of time for its development

The Cons

Slow Development On Long Term

It is impossible to create big to AAA sized games without the need of a team. If you stayed solo you will make forever small to medium sized game and making a big game would require years for one person but would take eight months for a full team

Lacking Skills & Experience

Let's face it, even if you have been developing games solo for lots of years , you will be still lack some skills in particular areas of game development. Everyone has a special skill that he works the best. For example you might be great at programming and scripting but your graphics needs a lot of improvement or you could make awesome graphics and maybe some sound designs but you can't make a legit code (logic) thus you will be excellent at skill and weak at another

No Collaboration & Team Spirit

Without a team there will be no collaboration and no team spirit. As solo indie developers , sometimes you'll give up and get bored from development because there is no one to discuss about your project and help you out , which makes the process of game development less fun if you don't have a friend or a teammate that helps you out and collaborate with you and you both enjoy your time making a new awesome game

Conclusion

Being an indie developer is really amazing and if you are starting solo it's a great start for you but after some time you might consider join a team or an indie studio because that will lead for more collaboration , more innovation and of course having fun through the process. Bigger and better indie teams promotes better games and more polished ones! But at the end, of course, it's up to you to choose if you want to be a solo developer or with a team.